Information about completing the Internet Recreational Effort and Catch iREC reporting program

We will send you a welcome and a thank you email. You will also receive 1 or 2 reminder emails after your reporting period if you have not yet completed your report.

Emails about the iREC reporting program will be sent to the email address that you provided to us when you purchased your Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence(s). Please ensure that the email address in your National Recreational Licensing System (NRLS) account is correct. You can also find your participation and access information for the iREC program on your licence.

If possible, please provide their unique access link to them. We are unable to provide the reporting program by mail.

PRA Inc. is an independent consulting company that has been contracted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to conduct this online reporting program and contact you by email. PRA Inc. has extensive experience designing and conducting online surveys.

PRA Inc. has access to your name and email address so it may deliver the reporting program to you. PRA Inc. has certified that it will only use the information for the purpose of contacting you regarding this reporting program and will delete your email address when no longer needed for this program.

We are sending email messages to you to collect information regarding your fishing activity which you are required to provide (see the condition for provision of information on your licence). The emails you receive regarding this reporting program from DFO are permitted under Canada’s anti-spam legislation because they are not spam as defined by this legislation. Specifically, they have no commercial purpose and their intent is to provide notice of a legal obligation as stated in Section 3(c) (ii) of the Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations. More information about Canada's anti-spam legislation.

The iREC reporting program takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete for most respondents or somewhat longer for more active fishers. It must be detailed in order to support estimation of effort and catch of many different species by month, area and fishing method.

We send emails prior to your reporting period to remind you of your program participation and provide information that will make it easier for you to complete your report.

The days available for reporting are updated as the month progresses to prevent inadvertent reporting for dates that have yet to occur. Also, the program calendar does not allow selection of dates outside the period when your selected licence is valid in the month of the reporting period.

Only report on your fishing activity on the dates within the month you have been selected for. For example, if you had a 3 day licence active from June 29 through July 1, and you were selected for June, the program only permits you to report for June 29 and June 30.

The Pacific coast offers opportunities for fishers to fish different species all year long, and we estimate recreational fishing effort and catch year-round. Completing your report to let us know that you did not fish in a particular month is just as important as letting us know that you did.

The reporting program design requires that we assign people to report on a particular month. So we do not allow fishers to report on months they are not selected for.

Although fishing for certain species may be closed during the month for which you have been selected, fishing is open for many species. The reporting program asks for your effort and catch for a wide variety of species. For example, when fishing for coho salmon or halibut is closed, fishing for dungeness crab or lingcod may be open.

Records entered into the National Recreational Licensing system do not serve the same purpose as the information collected by this reporting program.

Yes, even if you have provided this catch information through another means, we require that you complete your iREC report as well.

Complete your report anyway. Information about fishers who did not catch finfish or shellfish is important to ensure the statistics calculated from the program responses are accurate. Note that we collect information on released catch as well as retained catch.

We need to estimate total effort and catch from all fishers, including juvenile fishers. You can help give an accurate picture of recreational fishing impacts by reporting effort and catch for juvenile fishers fishing with you.

Use the map provided in the iREC reporting program or on our website to determine the area(s) where you fished.

There are 2 ways to access the reporting program:

1. Login using the information provided on your licence
2. Click on the link provided in the reporting program emails we send you

If you are using the link provided in these emails, click on it or copy and paste it into your browser. Make sure there are no breaks or omissions in the link.

Your report can be completed on a smart phone or other device connected to the Internet as well as a computer. Otherwise, please use a friend’s computer or a public access computer (for example, at a library) with a secure Internet connection. We are unable to provide the reporting program by mail.

When you see the screen “Thank you, your iREC report has been successfully submitted” you can be sure that your report has been submitted.